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11 Alternatives to "Round Robin" (and "Popcorn") Reading

D EC EMBE R 1, 2014

Todd Finley

Blogger and Assistant Editor (Contractor)

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Round Robin Reading (RRR) has been a classroom staple for over 200 years and an activity that over half of K-8
teachers report using in one of its many forms, such as Popcorn Reading. RRR's popularity endures, despite
overwhelming criticism that the practice is ineffective for its stated purpose: enhancing fluency, word decoding, and
comprehension. Cecile Somme echoes that perspective in Popcorn Reading: The Need to Encourage Reflective
Practice: "Popcorn reading is one of the sure-fire ways to get kids who are already hesitant about reading to really
hate reading."

Facts About Round Robin Reading

In RRR, students read orally from a common text, one child after another, while the rest of the class follows along in
their copies of the text. Several spinoffs of the technique offer negligible advantages over RRR, if any. They simply
differ in how the reading transition occurs:

 Popcorn Reading: A student reads orally for a time, and then calls out "popcorn" before selecting another
student in class to read.
 Combat Reading: A kid nominates a classmate to read in the attempt to catch a peer off task, explains
Gwynne Ash and Melanie Kuhn in their chapter of Fluency Instruction: Research-Based Best Practices.
  Popsicle Stick Reading: Student names are written on Popsicle sticks and placed in a can. The learner
whose name is drawn reads next.
 Touch Go Reading: As described by Professor Cecile Somme, the instructor taps a child when it's his or
her turn to read.

Of the thirty-odd studies and articles I've consumed on the subject, only one graduate research paper claimed a
benefit to RRR or its variations, stating tepidly that perhaps RRR isn't as awful as everyone says. Katherine Hilden
and Jennifer Jones' criticism is unmitigated: “We know of no research evidence that supports the claim that RRR
actually contributes to students becoming better readers, either in terms of their fluency or comprehension." (PDF)

Why all the harshitude? Because Round Robin Reading . . .

 Stigmatizes poor readers. Imagine the terror that English-language learners and struggling readers face
when made to read in front of an entire class.
 Weakens comprehension. Listening to a peer orally read too slowly, too fast, or too haltingly weakens
learners' comprehension -- a problem exacerbated by turn-taking interruptions.
 Sabotages fluency and pronunciation. Struggling readers model poor fluency skills and pronunciation.
When instructors correct errors, fluency is further compromised.

To be clear, oral reading does improve fluency, comprehension and word recognition (though silent/independent
reading should occur far more frequently as students advance into the later grades). Fortunately, other oral reading
activities offer significant advantages over RRR and its cousins. As you'll see in the list below, many of them share
similar features.

11 Better Approaches

1. Choral Reading

The teacher and class read a passage aloud together, minimizing struggling readers' public exposure. In a 2011
study of over a hundred sixth graders (PDF, 232KB), David Paige found that 16 minutes of whole-class choral
reading per week enhanced decoding and fluency. In another version, every time the instructor omits a word during
her oral reading, students say the word all together.

2. Partner Reading

Two-person student teams alternate reading aloud, switching each time there is a new paragraph. Or they can read
each section at the same time.

3. PALS

The Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) exercises pair strong and weak readers who take turns reading, re-
reading, and retelling.

4. Silent Reading
For added scaffolding, frontload silent individual reading with vocabulary instruction, a plot overview, an anticipation
guide, or KWL+ activity.

5. Teacher Read Aloud

This activity, says Julie Adams of Adams Educational Consulting, is "perhaps one of the most effective methods for
improving student fluency and comprehension, as the teacher is the expert in reading the text and models how a
skilled reader reads using appropriate pacing and prosody (inflection)." Playing an audiobook achieves similar
results.

6. Echo Reading

Students "echo" back what the teacher reads, mimicking her pacing and inflections.

7. Shared Reading/Modeling
By reading aloud while students follow along in their own books, the instructor models fluency, pausing occasionally
to demonstrate comprehension strategies. (PDF, 551KB)

8. The Crazy Professor Reading Game

Chris Biffle's Crazy Professor Reading Game video (start watching at 1:49) is more entertaining than home movies
of Blue Ivy. To bring the text to life, students . . .

 Read orally with hysterical enthusiasm

 Reread with dramatic hand gestures
 Partner up with a super-stoked question asker and answerer
 Play "crazy professor" and "eager student" in a hyped-up overview of the text.

9. Buddy Reading
Kids practice orally reading a text in preparation for reading to an assigned buddy in an earlier grade.

10. Timed Repeat Readings

This activity can aid fluency, according to literacy professors Katherine Hilden and Jennifer Jones (PDF, 271KB).
After an instructor reads (with expression) a short text selection appropriate to students' reading level (90-95
percent accuracy), learners read the passage silently, then again loudly, quickly, and dynamically. Another kid
graphs the times and errors so that children can track their growth.

11. FORI

With Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction (FORI), primary students read the same section of a text many times
over the course of a week (PDF, 54KB). Here are the steps:

1. The teacher reads aloud while students follow along in their books.
2. Students echo read.
3. Students choral read.
 4. Students partner read.
5. The text is taken home if more practice is required, and extension activities can be integrated during the
week.

I hope that the activities described above -- in addition to other well-regarded strategies, like reciprocal teaching,
reader's theater, and radio reading -- can serve as simple replacements to Round Robin Reading in your classroom.

Tell us your favorite fluency or comprehension activity.

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